The Baltimore Ravens have a chance to win consecutive road games for the second time this season as they head to Caesars Superdome to battle the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football.
New Orleans are coming off a 24-0 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, their first shutout triumph of the year, while the Ravens edged the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 27-22 as they are currently in first place in the AFC North.
Match preview
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In what was probably the highlight of his Saints head coaching career to date, Dennis Allen saw New Orleans beat his former team, the Raiders, in convincing fashion, allowing fewer than 200 total yards (183) in a game for the first time all season.
Defensive outings like that have rarely occurred for this team in 2022, with the Saints allowing 200 points so far this year, which heading into Sunday's games, is the fourth-most in the NFL.
An inability to make stops defensively has put pressure on their offence to be more productive, and for the most part, they have delivered, sitting fourth in the league heading into this weekend regarding total yards offensively per game (394.4).
Their defence, who have allowed an average of 4.5 yards a carry this season, were by far the stingiest we have seen all year versus Las Vegas, holding the Raiders' four rushers to 38 yards on 13 carries.
You can expect a heavy dose of running plays when they have the ball, with the Saints averaging 141.3 rushing yards per contest in 2022.
New Orleans this season have allowed 320.8 yards per game to opposing offences, while they have conceded 25 points on average this year.
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A pair of solid outings to wrap up October has the Ravens in a much better position than they were at the beginning of last month, winning their previous two games after losing two of three.
Coming into week nine of the NFL season, John Harbaugh's defence ranks 28th in yards allowed and 20th regarding points conceded, but they made a big move at the trade deadline to try and solve those issues, acquiring the league's top tackler.
Like their opponents on Monday, the Ravens love to run the ball, sitting second in the league when it comes to rushing yards per game (165.6), and they have one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the NFL.
Against the run, Baltimore have allowed an average of 4.4 yards per carry this season, though they had no problem containing the Bucs ground game last Thursday, conceding a mere 2.9 yards per carry against them.
In the secondary, the Ravens did well to contain Tom Brady and the Tampa aerial attack, allowing the legendary quarterback a passer rating of 90.1, while they have produced eight interceptions on the season.
They were much better at forcing punting situations last week, allowing only four third-down conversions to the Bucs on 13 attempts.
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Team News
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Saints QB Andy Dalton was 22/30 versus the Raiders for 229 yards and a pair of touchdowns, as he now has a passer rating of 95.1 this season, Alvin Kamara had nine catches for 96 yards and a major score in that encounter, while Pete Werner has made 41 stops, putting him second in the league in that department.
Demario Davis has five sacks on the season, Tyrann Mathieu leads them with a pair of interceptions and Tre'Quan Smith has 14 receptions to this point of the campaign.
Jarvis Landry saw limited practice time this week because of an ankle problem, Mark Ingram missed practice on Thursday due to a sore knee, Erik McCoy has been dealing with an issue in his shoulder and Michael Thomas is unlikely to play because of a foot injury.
Lamar Jackson is averaging 7.4 yards per carry for the Ravens this season, Kenyan Drake averaged 8.9 yards per run a week ago and Isaiah Likely had six receptions on seven targets for 77 yards and a major score versus Vegas.
Baltimore acquired the league's leading tackler Roquan Smith in a trade with the Chicago Bears, sending AJ Klein and a fifth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft the opposite way, Justin Houston has six sacks and Marcus Williams leads them with three interceptions.
Josh Bynes took part in Thursday's practice despite a problem in his quadriceps, Marlon Humphrey is dealing with a sore hamstring, Calais Campbell was rested this week and Gus Edwards might miss this game because of a hamstring injury.
Head To Head
Monday will be the first meeting between these two clubs since 2018, with the Ravens leading the overall series 5-2.
The last time they met, it was the Saints who came out on top 24-23 as their former QB Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdowns and Wil Lutz kicked a field goal in the final few minutes to give New Orleans a narrow victory.
We say: New Orleans Saints 20-28 Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens should get a big boost from the addition of Roquan Smith, and we expect their running attack to find success on the fast turf inside the Superdome.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
